A Certain Softness
by kelsey731
Summary: A phone conversation between Natasha and Clint while they're on separate missions. Set during Iron Man 2. My first story for them, please read and review!


"_If this was the last birthday party you were going to have, what would you do?"_

Tony's words echoed in her mind, prodding at something inside her. The answer had been simple; to do whatever she wanted with whomever she wanted to do it with.

The apartment was, as usual, quiet and she sighed to herself when she finally sat down. As it turned out, Tony had wanted to get extremely plastered and appear at his birthday party in the Iron Man suit. Like she had expected, the party had quickly turned into chaos and after Pepper had accused her of being up to no good, she disappeared from the public eye. All alone, where her mind could safely go back to Tony's question. If she had one birthday left, what would she do?

The bed creaked quietly when she sat down on it, opening the small purse and digging through its contents. Her cell phone screen lit up when she pressed the power button, the background of it nothing special. She bit her lower lip softly, debating on whether or not to make the call. It was pointless, they were both on separate missions, and he could do without the interruption. But still, the longer she stared at the number waiting to be dialed, the more she longed to hear his voice. She groaned quietly and pressed dial before she could change her mind and brought the phone up to her ear, her heart pounding for some unknown reason.

"Barton," he answered, his low voice in an almost inaudible mumble.

She swallowed and closed her eyes, trying to imagine what he was doing at this exact moment. Was he in some cheap motel too? Certainly not in a party dress, unless he was into a new thing that she quite frankly didn't want to know about.

"Hello?" Clint asked with a hint of annoyance.

"Clint," Natasha said very softly into the receiver, not sure that he'd heard it. She opened her eyes and wetted her plump lips, slipping her feet out of her stilettos.

"…Tasha?" he finally spoke. "Why the hell are you calling me? It's not my birthday, is it?"

She made a noise that could almost be classified as a laugh and shook her head, glad that he couldn't see the excited smile on her face. "How go things, Barton?" She asked, tucking her long legs underneath her. "Where in the world are you this time?"

"New Mexico, baby," He answered, and Natasha could hear the smile in his voice. "Where they got the Black Widow working these days, huh?"

She laughed for real and tucked a strand of long hair behind her ear. "Manhattan. With Stark. You'd never believe what drunken antics he's been up to tonight."

"Oh, I can imagine. So what, you're his babysitter? I thought that was Ms. Potts' job?"

"Ms. Potts' assistant, actually. So I guess I am doing a little bit of babysitting," Natasha murmured, sighing. "But she's getting suspicious of me being around, so I'm not sure if I'm going to have to get out of here, or what. How's New Mexico?"

"Supernatural," Clint chuckled, scratching at the small bit of stubble on his chin. "I'm not gonna even try to tell you the things I'm seein'." He paused for a moment, listening to the soft sound of her breathing on the other end. "It's nice to hear your voice, Tasha."

She pursed her lips and sighed quietly, chewing on her lip.

"It's okay if you didn't miss mine, I admit, I'd rather listen to yours than my own," He cracks, smiling. He could hear her hesitation, and it was strange enough that she would call him whilst in the middle of an assignment.

"Clint," She whispered, holding the phone with both hands. There was an empty feeling inside her gut, and his voice was making it wider. "I…"

"Tasha," He whispered back, his heart pounding in his chest. "What is it?"

This wasn't like her. Clint was someone she can trust, someone who knew more about her inner workings than most…so why couldn't she speak all of the sudden?

"I don't know," She muttered, hearing him sigh quietly. "I'm sorry. This was pointless."

"It couldn't be because you miss me, now could it?" He asked after a moment, that damn smile on his face. "Come on, admit it."

Natasha swallowed, her heart pounding against her chest. "Maybe," she whispered, again thankful that he couldn't see the heat rush to her cheeks. "Yes. Yes, I miss you. I don't like going on missions without you anymore."

Clint smiled in victory, closing his eyes and resting his head back against the headboard of his cheap hotel bed. "Well, that's good. Because I miss you too, Tash."

**Well there is a first time for everything. I absolutely love the relationship between Clint and Natasha and I had this image in my head of them like this when they're apart. Probably OOC and probably has been thought of a million times over, but oh well! Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!**

**-Kelsey  
**


End file.
